Friday, April 11, 2008

Friday Blizzard: Thundersnow edition

Contrariness: the 1986 49ers had the best team draft ever.The 1974 Steelers' draft that produced four Hall of Famers is widely touted as the best team draft ever (Fanhouse).

Let me make the contrarian argument that this was not, perhaps, the best team draft ever. First of all, I think that if Swann, Stallworth, Webster, and Lambert had each been drafted by lousy teams, it's likely that not one of them would be a Hall of Famer. Sometimes Hall of Fame candidates get more respect for being on great teams; certainly, playing on the juggernaut Steelers (which they contributed to, of course) helped get each of those players noticed. They're each very good players. However, Swann's and Stallworth's numbers aren't terribly impressive, and Webster and Lambert play at positions where one doesn't tend to get noticed if one plays on a bad team.

Be honest: look at Swann's and Stallworth's numbers and tell me that those wide receivers would have stood out on a lesser team. And tell me that you're even aware of the good centers and linebackers that played on bad teams in the 1970s.

I'll throw out another contender for the greatest draft ever: #5 on NFL.com's list, the 1986 49ers draft. As I've noted before, in 1986 the 49ers drafted a whopping eight players that started in Super Bowl XXIII. It's great enough to draft eight starters in a single year--but to draft eight players good enough to start and lead a team to a championship? There were no Hall of Famers, but there significant starters for multiple 49er Super Bowls, like Tom Rathman, Tim McKyer, John Taylor, Charles Haley, and Steve Wallace.

The return of the true titleI initially changed the title of this blog because I didn't want to imply that all we talked about was the Vikings and because I didn't want people to assume I was the only writer here. Every day since then I've hated the title a little more. Finally I figured, who cares if people think all we talk about is the Vikings? And who cares if people occasionally don't read the author of a post? So we're back to our roots, baby! Sorry for being a flake.

LinksRandball asks "How much do athletes read newspapers, blogs and other such media?"

Viking Update notes that " While it seems hard to imagine, since the second year of the existence of the franchise – a span of 45 seasons – the Vikings have had just five full-time centers." It's a reasonable point, but dependent on the definition of "full-time center;" for example, Matt Birk was out for all of 2005.

4 comments:

PV, I am thrilled to hear that the blog is back to its original title. Every time that I've pulled up your page, which I do frequently, I've winced a little bit at the new title. Anyhow, there were sites scattered along the information superhighway (remember that term?) that linked to "Pacifist Viking," but few that linked to "PV's Sports Toothache."

well, if swann and stallworth played with another team they may have had much better numbers. consider those two players shared receptions on a team that rarely threw the ball more than 300 times in a season. they also played part of their careers in the pass unhappy 1970s.